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It`s great to have you watching CNN STUDENT NEWS on this Monday, March 2.
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I`m Carl Azuz. Hope you had a great weekend.
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First up, there was a march yesterday in the Russian capital, Moscow.
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It was supposed to have been led by a man named Boris Nemtsov
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and it was supposed to have been held in opposition
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to Russia`s policies concerning Ukraine.
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But Nemtsov, Russia`s former deputy prime minister,
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was killed Friday night, so thousands used the event to remember and mourn him.
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Theories about the killing range far and wide.
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Nemtsov was a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin,
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so some are saying Nemtsov was targeting by the Putin administration
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or someone who supports it.
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A Russian government spokesman says the killing was meant to stir up political strife.
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Police are investigating if it was terrorism or related to Nemtsov`s business activities.
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And Ukraine`s president says Nemtsov was going to reveal information
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that would have been damaging to the Russian government.
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Next door today concerns the leader of Israel and a visit
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he`s making this week to the U.S. Capitol.
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Right now, the Obama administration is negotiating with Iran
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over its controversial nuclear program.
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Iran says it`s strictly for peaceful purposes.
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But Western countries have been concerned that Iran is trying to make a nuclear weapon,
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so they`ve imposed a number of sanctions -- penalties on Iran.
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The Obama administration is considering lifting its sanctions
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if Iran promises it won`t make a nuclear weapon
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and if it allows inspectors to make sure it doesn`t.
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But Israel opposes the possible deal.
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It sees Iran as an enemy and thinks Iran will still try to make a nuclear weapon in secret.
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It supports new sanctions against Iran.
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The Obama administration says that could threaten the deal
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it`s working on with Iran and that`s why there`s controversy
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over a speech that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
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is giving in the United States on Tuesday.
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As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to the United States for a controversial visit,
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there are signs he may be trying to tone down the angry rhetoric
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between him and the Obama administration.
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During a visit to the Western Wall before leaving,
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he said he actually respects President Obama.
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And in a statement, he said, quote,
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"I believe in the strength of the relationship between Israel
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and the U.S. and in their strength to overcome differences of opinion,
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those that have been and those that will yet be."
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And from the White House, a similar sentiment the day before.
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Even the prime minister himself has said that the level of security cooperation
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between the Netanyahu administration and the Obama administration is unprecedented.
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Mr. Netanyahu sparked a controversy when he and House Speaker John Boehner
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went around the White House and arranged a visit and speech on
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Capitol Hill without consulting anyone in the State Department or the administration,
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in an open effort to derail U.S.-led nuclear negotiations with Iran.
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That move was seen as a breach of etiquette
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and an open sign of the deteriorating relationship
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with America`s closest ally in the Middle East.
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In the end, Prime Minister Netanyahu would not be coming to America,
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he would not be risking the most important national security arrangement
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that Israel has if it wasn`t for the fact that he believed in his heart
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that Iran`s and the United States` nuclear negotiating
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is going to end up being an existential threat to his country.
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The Tuesday speech has angered Democrats,
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who accuse Netanyahu of driving a wedge into U.S. foreign policy.
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To have the prime minister to contradict exactly what the president,
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in very sensitive negotiations, is trying to do,
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and that`s trying to guarantee that Iran does not have nuclear weapons.
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Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky says she,
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along with other Democrats, will boycott the speech.
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The Israeli leader will also speak to a conference hosted by the American pro-Israel group AIPAC,
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on Monday morning, just before U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Power,
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offers her remarks.
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The two speeches may highlight the clash between the U.S. and Israel
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as they haggle over how to approach nuclear negotiations with Iran.
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However, some foreign policy watchers say the U.S.-Israeli relationship
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is too important to let wither.
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OK. It`s time to roll out the Roll Call.
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We`re kicking things off at Lake Worth, Florida, just south of West Palm Beach.
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It`s where The Mustangs are running at Woodlands Middle School.
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Grand Haven, Michigan is on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.
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It`s home to The Buccaneers of Grand Haven High School.
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And for the first time this year, we`re visiting India on the Roll Call.
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The British School is in the Indian capital of New Delhi.
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the U.S.-led campaign
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to defeat the ISIS terrorist group is moving forward.
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But he says ground troops will be needed to defeat the terrorists in Syria.
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Secretary Kerry says they wouldn`t be American combat troops.
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But the U.S. approach to ISIS has changed and some lawmakers
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are wondering if U.S. boots will inevitably be on the ground.
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When the U.S. began a military campaign against ISIS,
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the mission was defined very clearly as an air campaign with no boots on the ground.
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Now, that changed as U.S. boots did hit the ground,
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first with just a few hundred military advisers, soon authorized up to 3,000.
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So the second definition of the mission became an air campaign
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with no combat troops or no ground combat troops,
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none outside the major city centers of Irbil in the north
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and Baghdad in the central part of the country.
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Now, that role changed again when those military advisers moved out
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of those major city centers to places such as Anbar Province,
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which is mostly held by ISIS, the scene of fierce fighting.
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So while those troops don`t have a combat role,
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they`re certainly in a combat zone.
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That point was highlighted recently when the Al-Asad Air Base in Anbar Province,
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which houses some 400 coalition troops,
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including 300 Americans, came under assault by ISIS.
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Now, the fourth change in the definition of the mission is still on the table
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and that`s the idea that some of these military advisers might either be forward
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deployed with Iraqi ground forces or
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that U.S. ground controllers may be sent in to call in air strikes.
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Are those combat troops?
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The administration says no, but they would certainly be much closer to combat
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and therefore much closer to danger.
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See if you can ID me.
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I once connected China and Rome.
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I am an ancient trade route that was traveled by Marco Polo.
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I`m named for one of the major materials carried along my path.
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I`m the Silk Road, once stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to Shiyan, China.
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With the possible exception of Marco Polo,
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most people who used the Silk Road never actually traveled the whole distance.
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Different traders would carry goods along different legs of the journey.
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The route has seen a number of revivals over the centuries.
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China is investing in one now with a similar goal to the ancient one
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-- bridge East and West with trade and ideas.
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The world`s longest rail journey was completed this week.
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A Chinese cargo train finished its first trip from the town of Yiwu in China to Madrid.
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That means it passed through no fewer than eight countries -- China, Kazakhstan, Russia,
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Belarus, Poland, Germany, France and Spain, according to Chinese state media.
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The journey was more than 8,000 miles each way and each leg took roughly three weeks.
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To put that in perspective, the round trip distance is equivalent to traveling between
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Los Angeles and New York approximately six and a half times,
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or from LA to Sydney and back again.
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The direct link to the West has been called the 21st Century Silk Road by Chinese officials.
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It isn`t just this isolated route.
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Last year, Xi Jinping announced a $40 billion Silk Road fund
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to boost infrastructure that could link markets across Asia and beyond.
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It`s officially the year of the sheep, or by some translations, the ram or the goat.
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But perhaps the silk worm would be more appropriate.
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My Twitter lit up Thursday night.
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People were asking me what color I thought this dress was.
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I saw blue and black. But some people see white and gold.
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It started with a photo of an $80 dress posted recently on social media.
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The colors you see in the photo comes down to how your eyes and brain process optical signals.
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So some will swear by blue and black, others white and gold.
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But that`s just the photo that has this effect.
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The actually dress is actually blue and black and everyone agrees.
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And because sales of it are up over 300 percent,
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according to the company, it does plan to make one in gold and white.
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So dress makers will make a dress to dress the best dressed.
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Dress wearers want a dress.
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Dressing up or dressing down or just putting to dress the great dress debate,
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which is anything but black and white.
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I`m Carl Azuz for CNN STUDENT NEWS.
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And for the record, my tie is black and blue.